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This study investigates the perspectives of researchers and business professionals on the Physical Internet (PI) and its application in city logistics. Through a two-part survey involving 83 participants from Europe and the United States, the research explores the perceived key elements for PI's successful implementation, its potential to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of urban logistics operations, and the main challenges to its adoption. The findings reveal a general optimism about PI's potential, with technology, collaboration, and infrastructure identified as critical success factors. However, concerns regarding costs, resistance to change, and technological limitations are also highlighted. The study concludes with suggestions for increasing awareness and fostering cross-sector collaboration to realize PI's full potential in transforming urban logistics. Presented at the 10th International Physical Internet Conference (IPIC 2024) 29-31 May 2024, Savannah, GA USA

AbstractUptake of electric vehicles is accelerating as governments around the world aim to decarbonize transportation. However, swift and widespread electric vehicle (EV) adoption will require some degree of controlled charging to mitigate the adverse impacts of electric vehicle adoption. Simulating the interaction between transportation and power requires new modelling tools with operational detail and spatial-temporal granularity. This analysis evaluates the potential benefits of utility-controlled charging (UCC) with the objective of reducing variable renewable energy (VRE) curtailment in decarbonized power systems using a framework that links travel and power system models using an intermediate charging model. Results show that the addition of VRE generation infrastructure shows the most impact on electricity system operating emissions and costs, but EV charging plays a significant role as well. Within EV charging strategies, UCC charging decreases emissions by 7% compared to uncontrolled charging. UCC is proven to be most effective in the summer due to higher electric vehicle fuel economy. Finally, the type of VRE generation infrastructure on the grid may have implications for siting of EV charging infrastructure due to the typical temporal peaks of wind and solar energy. These findings demonstrate how the use of distinct but linked travel and power sector models can be deployed to reduce multi-sector emissions and costs.

Wave energy conversion is a promising field of renewable energy, but it still faces several technological and economic challenges. One of these challenges is to improve the energy efficiency and adaptability of Wave Energy Converters to varying wave conditions. A technological approach to solve this efficiency challenge is the negative spring mechanisms illustrated in recent studies. This paper proposes and analyzes a novel negative spring technological concept that dynamically modifies the mass and inertia of a Wave Energy Converter by transferring seawater between its compartments. The added value of the presented technology relies on interoperability, ease of manufacturing and operating, and increased energy efficiency for heterogeneous sea states. The concept is presented in two analyzed alternatives: a passive one, which requires no electrical consumption and is purely based on the relative motion of the bodies, and an active one, which uses a controlled pump system to force the water transfer. The system is evaluated numerically using widely accepted simulation tools, such as WECSIM, and validated by physical testing in a wave flume using decay and regular test scenarios. Key findings include a relevant discussion about system limitations and a demonstrated increase in the extracted energy efficiency up to 12.7% while limiting the maximum power extraction for a singular wave frequency to 3.41%, indicating an increased adaptability to different wave frequencies because of the amplified range of near-resonance operation of the WEC up to 0.21 rad/s.

In recent years, a ban on short-haul flights for which alternative, more environmentally friendly transportation is available has been on European regulatory agendas, particularly in countries like Germany, with its well-developed high-speed rail (HSR) and a dense network of low-cost, point-to-point airline traffic. This study aims to quantify the potential impact on CO2 emissions of substituting short-haul flights with rail frequencies in 87 German air travel corridors. Using OAG data on passenger bookings and airline schedules for 2019, as well as current rail travel times, we determine the target flights by looking at the actual proportion of connecting passengers per frequency. We estimate a potential reduction in CO2 emissions of between 2.7% and 22%, depending on how strict the flight substitution is. However, the social benefits of those carbon emissions might fall short of the travel time losses experienced by the passengers. Increased investment to improve rail speeds and intermodal accessibility appears necessary before the substitution policies can be implemented.

Multiport power converters integrate three or more energy devices into a single (potentially highly controllable and efficient) hub. These characteristics suggest that multiport power converters may be valuable for the decarbonisation of distribution networks, where the increase of converter-interfaced devices has degraded system reliability and efficiency. This review analyses the suitability of a wide range of multiport power converter solutions for four example distribution network applications (where previous studies have focussed on a limited range of topologies or applications) and the research areas that can progress their maturity. A review of grid codes and standards overviews the base capability that multiport power converters are likely to require, some of which are carried forward as requirements for a novel comparison tool. The comparison tool is developed to qualify and score reviewed topologies in terms of a range of features that are weighted for the applications. Isolated and partially-isolated topologies perform well due to their flexibility to be configured for the specifications and their operational capabilities (including modularity and voltage decoupling). Further research should focus on the complex control interactions between ports and scaling of these topologies for medium voltages. In contrast, many direct current non-isolated topologies do not qualify due to their low flexibility to be configured for the applications. This suggests that future research could focus on the development of a more flexible non-isolated multiport power converter configuration to take advantage of the high efficiency and low footprint that these topologies might otherwise offer for low voltage applications. This project was funded by the Innovate UK Horizon Europe Guarantee application number 10039599. This work was also funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme in the framework of the project “iPLUG” with grant agreement 101069770. . Peer Reviewed

Scenarios to stabilize global climate and meet international climate agreements require rapid reductions in human carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, often augmented by substantial carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from the atmosphere. While some ocean-based removal techniques show potential promise as part of a broader CDR and decarbonization portfolio, no marine approach is ready yet for deployment at scale because of gaps in both scientific and engineering knowledge. Marine CDR spans a wide range of biotic and abiotic methods, with both common and technique-specific limitations. Further targeted research is needed on CDR efficacy, permanence, and additionality as well as on robust validation methods—measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification—that are essential to demonstrate the safe removal and long-term storage of CO2. Engineering studies are needed on constraints including scalability, costs, resource inputs, energy demands, and technical readiness. Research on possible co-benefits, ocean acidification effects, environmental and social impacts, and governance is also required.

Women’s empowerment is a powerful engine for personal and societal economic development and well-being. Nevertheless, gender biases in physical infrastructure investments lead to negative consequences for women and children that reduce their empowerment and limit their economic benefits. Public fixed-route buses, such as those in Washington, DC, illustrate how physical transportation infrastructure has innate gender biases. These young residents likely depend on strollers to travel longer than a few blocks. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) runs the public transportation system in Washington, DC. In 2021, 7% of DC’s 720,000 residents were under five. WMATA maintains a fleet of approximately 1595 buses, 95% of which banned the onboarding of open strollers until recently. This ban directly limited the use of Metro buses for the caregivers of young children, primarily women. It also reduced the opportunities for these caregivers to participate in DC’s economic life. In neighborhoods dependent on buses for essential mobility, the stroller ban reduces employment, healthcare, social service, educational, and recreational offerings beyond walkable distances. This paper examines the publicly available discussions and actions that led to the updated stroller policy and offers opportunities for improving caregiver transit access in Washington, DC, and, by extension, other cities worldwide.

With the extensive promotion of new energy vehicles, the number of electric vehicles (EVs) in China has increased rapidly. Electric vehicles are densely parked in garages, which means parking garages contain a large amount of idle energy storage resources. How to make this idle energy storage in garages participate in power system dispatch and evaluate the network loss and system carbon emissions considering electric vehicle energy storage has become an important research topic. The uncertainty around parking habits for electric vehicles causes it to be difficult to predict compared with the traditional energy storage system. Therefore, it is necessary to study its influence on the synergistic effect of loss reduction and carbon reduction as energy storage access. The benefits of new energy power generation output growth, energy waste reduction, and carbon emission reduction brought by loss reduction measures can be well reflected in the loss reduction index system of a power system in a low-carbon scenario. In this paper, a large amount of parking information in a certain area is collected, and the approximate parking habits of all vehicles in the simulated garage are obtained by the Monte Carlo method. Then, the load aggregation model is established, which is incorporated into the power system as an energy storage model. The synergy of loss reduction and carbon reduction is considered in this paper and comprehensively optimizes the strategy of integrating electric vehicles into the power system from the perspectives of electricity and carbon. In the scenarios of carbon flow calculation and network loss calculation, the YALMIP and CPLEX of MATLAB are applied, with various constraints input for simulation, so that the benefit evaluation method of carbon reduction and loss reduction under a coordinated transportation–electricity network is obtained.